The World-Wide Web (WWW, W3, the Web) is an Internet client-server hypertext distributed information retrieval system. An extensive user community has developed on the Web since its introduction.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a prior art client-server system. The client A 110 can access destination servers DS1-DS3 150-170. Similarly, other clients B and C, 120 130, can access the destination servers DS1-3 150-170. Each destination server may provide different services, information, or other data to the user.
On the Web everything (documents, menus, indices) is represented to the user as hypertext objects in hypertext markup language (HTML) format, or as Java, or JavaScript objects, or other data types. Hypertext links refer to other documents by their uniform resource identifiers (URIs). The client program, known as a browser, e.g. NCSA Mosaic, Netscape Navigator, runs on the user's computer and provides two basic navigation operations: to follow a link or to send a query to a server. Users access the web through these browsers.
Users often access the web from multiple locations. Users may access the web from their office, at different locations at work, at home, or on the road. Libraries and Internet cafes make web access available on a walk-in basis as well.
A user accesses a server by typing the URI of the server into the browser's address window. The browser then connects to the server corresponding to this URI. Another method of accessing a web site is by selecting the web site from the list of bookmarks. The list of bookmarks is resident in the browser in the user's computer. Thus, if a user wishes to have similar bookmarks on multiple computers, he or she must manually copy the bookmarks and transfer them between the computers. This process is inconvenient.
Furthermore, many servers use cookies to store information about the user. This information may include the user name, password, previous interests, etc. These cookies are also stored in the user's browser. Again, this means that if the user is accessing the Internet from multiple computers, the user's cookies have to be duplicated into multiple computers. This process is inconvenient.
Many users have multiple accounts on different computer systems. For example, a user may have an account with a bank, an e-mail account, a personalized portal site account, and an account on an e-commerce server. Currently, the users must log into each of these accounts by remembering and providing his or her user name and password. For security, each of these user names and passwords should be different. Remembering different names and passwords is inconvenient to the user. Thus, a method for a simple log-in into various accounts from any computer would be advantageous.
Most clients and servers support “forms” which allow the user to enter arbitrary text as well as selecting options from customizable menus and on/off switches. As more business is transacted on the Web, forms are proliferating. The forms may include forms for requesting further information, for ordering items from the Web, for registering for a Web site, etc. However, the user generally can not get a copy of the information filled into the form. The user can either print the page when the form is filled in, generating a paper copy, or rely on the server to respond in a manner that permits the user to make a record of the information entered in to the form. A method of tracking information filled into forms would be advantageous. Furthermore, vendors may respond with an order number or other useful information. The user can keep a copy of this page, which is generally only temporarily available, by printing it, or copying down the information provided. A method of attaching this vendor response to the original order information and making both available to the user would be advantageous.
Furthermore, currently, the user has to fill out each of these forms separately. Generally, the forms request the same types of information, i.e. name, address, telephone number, e-mail address, etc. The user has to enter all of this information for each form. This is repetitious and takes time. Additionally, if such information as credit card number or social security number is requested, the user has to pull out the credit card and copy a long string of numbers. This makes errors likely. Furthermore, the user has to verify that a Web site that requests a credit card number or similar confidential information is of the appropriate level of security for the user to feel comfortable sending the information over the Web. An improved method of filling out forms would be advantageous.